- from Ryan Warner, VP-Hockey Operations

Shooting/Stick HandlingArea

Our Harding Dryland consists of 2 areas around the Harding rink.  The upstairs mezzanine area is designated for shooting & stickhandling.  The area at the far end of the rink, just past the bleachers is the athletic/strength training area.

 

To get to the shooting & stickhandling upstairs area, walk through the doors going into the arena, turn left, walk up the steps and left at the door.  In the past this area was used primarily for ply metrics, box jumping, strength training,etc.  We will still do this training, but it moved to the right of the bleachers.  The shooting/stick handling area consists of synthetic ice with 5 shooting lanes and stick handling areas.  

 

GOALIES:

One of the shooting lanes was designed specifically for the goalies by Justin Johnson,owner of MEGA Goaltending.  It is 20’ wide by 24’ long.  The synthetic ice is heavier duty than the rest of the area and allows goalies to be in full gear with skates - just like on the ice.  There will be a game size net in this lane as well.  We will leave it up to the coaches and goalies to determine if they want to suit up in full gear for each dryland session or they would prefer to participate in the other dryland activities.  We placed rubber on the steps so goalies will get dressed in their assigned locker rooms and walk up the steps with skates on.  Goalie coaches – make sure to reinforce drills taught by MEGA in this area.  Justin uses this same set up for his camps. 

 

SHOOTING & STICK HANDLING:

For shooting/stick handling, players will use tennis shoes.  There are special pucks for this area and they must be used here and must be kept here.  Normal pucks will smear the synthetic ice.  In addition, there will be 3 sets of the ‘SweetHands Stick Handling Trainer’ in this area for stick handling exercises. 

 

Lance Pitlick’sOnline Shooting/Stick Handling Videos

All of you should have received your personal username andpassword to access the Lance Pitlick’s Online Shooting Videos.  If you haven’t, check you junk mail.  If not there, email Lance at coach@onlinehockeytraining.com and he’ll get you set up.  Our coaches will be using these videos to formulate their shooting/stick handling dryland practice.  It is crucial that your child watch these videos at home so they can become familiar with the drills – this will make the actual training at Harding more beneficial. 

 

Coaches/Team Managers – Tim O’Connor, VP Coaching, suggests creating an incentive program for your players to practice these modules.  For example, after completing a certain number of modules a player earns a Woodbury Hockey sweatshirt.  Be creative and make it fun for the kids.  There are three levels to these online videos (foundational, intensive and accelerated).  Don’t jump around.  Start at the beginning and master each drill before progressing.

 

If you would like to purchase at-home stickhandling/shooting products, www.snipersedgehockey.com is a good place to start.  You don’t have to buy from them, but it will give you lots of ideas. 

 

Speed/Agility/StrengthTraining

This area is located to the right of the bleachers. From 10/24 to 11/5 Summit Orthopedics will be running this station.  They will be working on exercises that will improve your child’s speed & quickness, agility, strength, and stamina ultimately resulting in improved performance on the ice.  Our coaches will be trained in by Summit trainers, so after 11/5 the same quality training will continue throughout the season.  Matt Barry,VP Hockey Development, has extensive experience with speed/agility/strength training so please don’t hesitate to use him as a resource in this area.

 

Housekeeping Items

·       No players are allowed in either the shooting/stick handling area or speed/agility/strength training area without the direct supervision of a coach.  No different than players not allowed on the ice before a coach.  Same rules apply with these two areas. Parents, please assist our coaches with this policy and reinforcing it withyour kids.  It took a lot of negotiating to get Ramsey County to allow us to create this dryland experience.  We need to make sure misbehaving kids don’t ruin it for everyone.

·       Come to Harding with tennis shoes and workout clothes.

·       DO NOT USE REGULAR PUCKS in the shooting/stick handling area.  There a SPECIAL PUCKS designed for the synthetic ice which will be available for you to use.  PLEASE make sure these special pucks stay at Harding.   

·       DO NOT USE STICKY TAPE for your sticks in the shooting/stick handling area as this will lead to smear marks over the synthetic ice thus not allowing pucks to slide properly.

 

YOUR FEEDBACK IS IMPORTANT!

This is the pilot year for this and we know there will need to be some tweaking along the way so please don’t hesitate to pass along suggestions as they arise.  We need your timely feedback to know what we can improve upon to make this area the best it can be. 

 

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read this and hope your player enjoys this new benefit of being a member of Woodbury Hockey!